China hot-rolled steel coil rises for 6th day amid falling inventories
MANILA, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Hot-rolled steel coil futures in China rose for a sixth straight session on Thursday, supported by falling inventories of the material used in making cars and home appliances, and a surprise growth in factory activity last month.
The most-traded contract for hot-rolled coil on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 1.5% to 3,647 yuan ($518.12) a tonne, its highest since July 26. By noon break, it was up 0.8%.
Construction steel rebar fell 0.3% to 3,596 yuan a tonne.
Hot-rolled coil inventory in China had fallen to 203.5 million tonnes as of Nov. 29, the lowest since Jan. 18, data from SteelHome consultancy showed SH-TOT-HRCLINV.
“Steel prices remained supported following the positive PMI data in November,” said Richard Lu, senior analyst at commodities intelligence firm CRU in Beijing, referring to the gauge of factory activity.
